Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $136.50.

Several analysts have commented on GPN shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 12.4% during the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 25,169 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,779 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,692 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 7.1% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 21,169 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares during the period. Finally, Dean Investment Associates LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 7.9% during the third quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC now owns 23,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $116.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $105.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc provides payment technology and software solutions for card, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through two segments, Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization, settlement and funding, customer support, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security, and consolidated billing and reporting services.